The Dark

I have two favorite characters from the Harry Potter series. 

One is Dobby. 

The other is the mandrake species. 

I like Dobby because of his loyalty to Harry and the ultimate sacrifice that he makes to save him. 

I like the mandrake because I can relate to how it screams whenever it is uprooted and moved to a different pot.

I’ve long paralleled personal growth to the mandrake—

To outgrowing one pot, needing to be moved to a larger pot to live more fully and freely, but not liking the process of being moved and so fighting it with literal and figurative screams. 

 

The analogy grew even deeper on Sunday, though, when Pastor Ann mentioned that sometimes darkness can be a good thing.

Nicodemus went to Jesus in the dark. 

He felt free to visit, free to question, free to search, and free to grow.

Pastor Ann suggested that it is in periods of darkness in our own lives that we are most vulnerable and open to growth.

I had always thought of darkness as a negative thing—

As being away from light

And light being the presence of goodness and God.

But in this context,

Darkness is the soil where a seed takes route and begins to grow.

Darkness is safety and space and shelter and exactly what is needed for life.

And so the mandrake grows in darkness.

And when it is yanked from that darkness into piercing light, it hurts.

It is like being born.

And being born is not easy.

And so it screams.

It stays in light for but a few moments 

And then it enters back into darkness where it will continue to grow.

 

I know.

The analogy breaks down at some point because we do not always scream when we’re in the light.

And we need to be in light to be fully alive. 

But I like this idea of soil being dark.

Of growth occurring in the dark.

Of the transition out of darkness into light sometimes being difficult. 

And of the movement, out of darkness, into light, back to darkness, back into light, 

Each time expanding the pot,

Each time expanding the space,

Each time becoming more than we were before. 

 

Friends,

We are living in dark times.

But God is here.

Even in the dark,

God is here.

And we are primed and ready for change. 

We are in a place of possible growth. 

Somehow, oh God, 

May it be so. 

Amen.